Vincent Laforet, who shared the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for feature photography as a staff member of the New York Times, is now one of the world’s preeminent photographers. He is known to push the envelope of photography — whether it was giving a new meaning to the phrase “tilt shift” or using DSLRs for digital movie making. He recently leaned out of an “open door of a helicopter 7,500 feet over New York City” and took some fantastic pictures of New York from a perspective that is rarely seen. It was first time anyone had gone up there and taken photographs at night. The whole place looks like a cross between a computer board and Sim City. If you have not seen these photos — then you should.
I was completely mesmerized by the photos — and the story he shared on Storehouse (disclosure: a True Ventures company & I serve on the board of directors) — and by how the height gave a new perspective to a city I loved. As luck would have it, I ran into him sitting in South Park, talking with Storehouse co-founders Tim Donnelly and Mark Kawano. I totally hijacked the conversation, peppered Vincent with questions, got a few photography tips and convinced him that he should teach me how to take good portraits. His decision to pick Storehouse as a platform to publish is a big pat on the back for Storehouse team, but it is also is the arrival of visual story telling beyond one-off photos on services such as Instagram. (Another great visual story teller is VJ Singh.)
Anyway, during that conversation I learned Vincent was thinking about turning that one-off up in the air adventure into a series called AIR. San Francisco, Tokyo and several European cities are keen on being part of the AIR series. And while all that happens later this spring, here is the second (and the latest) in the series: Las Vegas. It is an interesting view into the city that reveals its true essence — that of a playground. I can’t wait to see the next in the series — and since all of those will be published on Storehouse, I am doubly excited.
Photos copyright and courtesy of Vincent Laforet.